American oil firm Chevron, has signed $60 billion worth of deals to supply natural gas to Japan and South Korea from its Gorgon project in Australia. Chevron Australia said it would supply Osaka Gas with 1.375 million tonnes of natural gas a year over 25 years.

Under the agreement, Tokyo Gas would receive 1.1 million tonnes and South Korea's GS Caltex would get 0.5 million tonnes. Last month, PetroChina signed a deal to buy $50 billion worth of liquefied natural gas, LNG, from Gorgon — the largest trade deal in Australia's history, while India's Petronet signed a $25 million deal.

Kevin Rudd, Australian prime minister, described the deals as a "shot in the arm" for the Australian economy. Rudd said the latest deals will deliver in the order of a $70 billion worth of exports to Australia over the next 25 years, saying it had been a "great month" for Australia's LNG export industry.

"These are massive projects that will generate economic growth, income, jobs and prosperity for the nation for decades to come”, Rudd noted. The yet-to-be-developed Gorgon gas field on Barrow Island off western Australia is expected to generate 6,000 jobs and make Australia a leading LNG supplier in the region. Chevron and its partners in the project, Royal Dutch Shell and Exxon Mobil, are expected to give the go-ahead for production in the coming weeks.

But the A$50 billion or $42 billion project has met opposition from environmentalists as Barrow Island is home to a number of endangered, rare and endemic species.